Sigeman & Co: Nigel Short wins with a 2990 performance

6/7/2009 – We have known him for decades, and he never fails to surprise us. Just a week after his 44th birthday Nigel Short delivered a stunning performance at this six-player classical tournament in Malmo, Sweden. After conceding just one draw in the first four rounds he defeated second seed Ivan Sokolov, rated 2669, with the black pieces to take the event with a 1.5 point lead. Pictorial report.

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This event took place at the Hipp Theater in central Malmo, Sweden, from June
3rd - 7th, 2009. The rating of the participants, with the exception of Grandelius,
were between 2600 and 2700. Nigel Short and Ivan Sokolov were the two favorites,
with Berg, Hillarp and Nybäck as outsiders. All six participants have an
aggressive approach and are not known to play quick draws.

The organisers are thanking the city of Malmo, the Swedish Chess Federation,
The Swedish Chess Academy, law firm Sigeman & Co, TT-Line, ViaEcole, Sydsvenska
Dagbladet, Rafstedt ad agency, Galvano Service, Kakel & Tegel in Veberod,
Formo and all others who have helped in making this tournament possible.

Final standings

Nigel Short's performance, calculated by the ChessBase program, is an incredible
2990. It's going to bring him a pack of Elo points on the next FIDE rating list.
Remarkable is the second player, 15-year-old Swedish chess prodigy Nils Grandelius.
People were expecting him to maybe get a few draws, but Nils took clear second
place, playing at a 2715 level, 224 points better than his nominal 2491 rating.

The two outstanding players in this event: Nils Grandelius and Nigel Short

Nigel chatting with Ivan Sokolov and main sponsor Johan Sigeman at the end of
the tournament

Giving an interview to an extraordinary team of Swedish chess journalists,
about
whom we will tell you in a separate article

The drawing average in this tournament was a sensationally low 33%, with White
winning 40% and Black 27% of the games. Maybe there is something to be said
about this method of combatting draws in chess. Instead of forbidding draw offers,
counting wins and draws differently, and the many other methods proposed by
experts, you can also solve the problem by simply inviting the right players.
Make a note of these six for future events.

See also

11/28/2018 – The moment we've all been waiting for! Live games (for Premium members) from the 2018 World Championship match in London. Every two games will be followed by a rest day until Game 12 (if necessary) on November 26th which will be preceded by an additional rest day. All rounds start at 15:00 UT (London time) / 16:00 CEST / 10:00 EST. If needed there would be a rapid tiebreak match on Wednesday, November 28th. | Photos: Patricia Claros

See also

8/27/2018 – Live games and commentary from Saint Louis! Fabiano Caruana, Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian tied for first place, while Caruana also tied for fourth place in the Grand Chess Tour standings with Wesley So, forcing a playoff match to be held on Tuesday. | Graphic: Saint Louis Chess Club

Video

Former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik liked to play the French and once described it as a 'difficult and dangerous opening'. But in this 60 minutes video IM Andrew Martin suggests an aggressive and little-used idea of the renowned attacking player GM Viktor Kupreichik to counter the French: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Be3!?. Andrew Martin uses the games of Kupreichik to show why this line could catch many French aficionados unprepared and is very dangerous for Black. Attacking players will love this line and the unusual complications that it promotes.

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